June 15, 2010
With a stellar forecast ahead, I decided to take the day off from work. Needing only Moosilauke for my June Grid which I plan to hike this weekend, I decided on a non-4000 footer hike. I've been wanting to hike these mountains for several years. Today is the day. I should have done a little reading first. This is one of the few trailheads in the Whites that I hadn't been to. I had trouble locating the trailhead. I was on Mount Stanton Road and then Mount Pickering Road. That sounded right since those were the first two mountains I would be climbing. What I found was a lot of no trespassing signs. Apparently I wasn't the only one who thought the trailhead was here. Both my map from Map Adventures (3rd edition) and my GPS were confirming this. I finally took out my AMC map which showed the trailhead on Covered Bridge Lane. My guess is that the trailhead was relocated at some point. I drove back out to Route 302 and turned onto Covered Bridge Lane. Sure enough I found the trailhead near this house. Coordinate for trailhead are N44°5'43.4" W71°:12'49.9"
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I dropped off my pack. Why? I needed to set up my own carspot. I then drove my truck up to the trailhead for the Davis Path. I took my bike out and biked the 12 miles back to the Mount Stanton trailhead. I will miss my hiking pal Madison today, but I couldn't figure out a way to give her a ride on the handle bars. Now it was time to start the hike.
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It started off easy enough.
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The trail got steeper. I went by a big boulder.
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I had several nice views as I neared the top, but just before the summit I reached Whites Ledge where I had an awesome view.
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Attitash Ski Resort
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Nearing the 1716' summit of Mount Stanton.
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I had a great view of Iron Mountain which is still on my to do list.
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I found this red cairn in the col between Stanton and Pickering.
I believe it is some type of boundary marker.
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Nearing the 1930' summit of Mount Pickering.
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I don't think the trail goes quite over the summit. I found a high spot about 50 feet off the trail and tagged it. A little further up I had a great view of Mount Washington which still has a few snow patches on it.
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Another view of Iron Mountain. Those cliffs look like a nice spot.
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Another view of Attitash.
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I went up and over the 2390' viewless summit of Mount Langdon. The highpoint appeared to be a little off the trail here as well. I bushwhacked about 50 feet and tagged what I thought looked like the highest point. I then hiked down to the Mount Langdon Shelter.
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The Mount Stanton Trail ends at the shelter and become the Mount Langdon Trail which ironically did not go up to the top of Mount Langdon. This trail brought me to the junction with the Mount Parker Trail where one sign pointed to where I had been . . .
. . . and one pointed to where I was headed.
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I reached the 3004' summit of Mount Parker which qualifies as a 3000 footer and is on the New Hampshire 52-with-a-view list. Here's a picture of the summit.
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Looking north to Mount Washington
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Looking over to Mount Crawford. The Willey Range is in the back and to the right.
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Here I am on the summit.
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On to Mount Resolution
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There is a side trail before the summit of Resolution that is definitely worth taking. I missed it on the first pass and had to hike back a quarter of a mile to find it. There is no sign there, and it can be easy to miss. The coordinates are N44°08'25.82" W71°18'42.76". It's a short side trip but I realized it was definitely worth it as I began to break free of the trees.
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I came out on a large, flat rock ledge. How cool!
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For a 360° clip click here.
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I spent a good 15 minutes here soaking it all in.
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Looking back to Mount Parker
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I returned to the main trail and headed up to Mount Resolution for another great view.
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This was not the true summit of Mount Resolution so I then went on a short bushwhack of about 1/10th of a mile or so. It was short but ugly as I had to push through thick spruce. What I found I wasn't expecting ~ a great view from the 3415' summit. This mountain was also a 3000 footer and on the 52-with-a-view list.
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Looking over to Stairs Mountain
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Looking north to Mount Washington
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I bushwhacked back to the trail getting some scrapes and cuts along the way.
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The trail drops down and has a couple nice lookouts along the way.
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Looking up to the Giant Stairs
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I came down to the junction with the Davis Path. This is also the Cohos Trail, New Hampshire's longest trail, but it is not marked as the Cohos Trail in this area. I would be spending the rest of the day on it.
Northern Terminus of the Mount Parker Trail
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At this junction I needed to go in three directions to hit all the trails. First I made the 1/10th of a mile drop down to the Resolution Shelter which is closed because it is unsafe.
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I climbed back up and headed north since I need to redline the next .3 miles before returning.
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I reached the junction with the Stairs Col Trail. I had been here before when I had descended Stairs Mountain three years earlier.
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It wasn't a very nice day when I had been on Stairs Mountain then so I decided to climb it again.
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I came to an outlook. I believe I was on the top of the bottom stair.
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I climbed up some more and came to the spur trail that led to the 3463' summit of Stairs Mountain, my 3rd 3000 footer and 52-with-a-view peak of the day.
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Mount Resolution from the top of the Giant Stairs.
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Here's a few more photos from the ledge.
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I was not exactly sure where the highest point was. I tagged a couple spots before making my way back to the junction with the Mount Parker Trail. Now I made my way to Mount Crawford. The trail was very nice along the way.
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Closing in on Mount Crawford.
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I reached the spur trail to Mount Crawford
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The final 'up' of the day.
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Looking back down
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I reached the 3119' summit of Mount Crawford, my 4th and final 3000 footer and 52-with-a-view peak of the day. It's about time I've climbed this mountain. I've driven through Crawford Notch enough times. I had great views in all directions.
Looking north to the Giant Stairs.
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Mount Resolution
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I headed back down the spur trail and continued south on the Davis Path.
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There were still views to be had.
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This stone staircase had to be a lot of work to build.
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I left the wilderness area.
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Over a small bridge.
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Some info on the Davis Path
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Across a neat suspension bridge.
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I came out on a dirt road which I had to follow for a couple minutes back to the parking lot.
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What a great day it had been!
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